With two laps to complete for the first qualifier , I figured I had plenty of time to walk just on the other side of the start line to a small rock garden ( very soon after the start of the lap ) and catch Alex coming through on his second lap . After waiting for quite some time , watching countless riders come through the garden , and noticing that I saw the same riders twice , I realized that something must have gone wrong ; so I headed back to the pits . Sure enough , I was right . You ’ ll notice that this article doesn ’ t have any action shots of Alex riding Tough Like RORR - that ’ s because what happened to Alex on his first lap of his first race of his first-ever enduro happened before he ever reached any of the three photographers out on the course .
“ The first qualifier race was going really well ,” explained Alex . “ I was hanging with the top guys , surprisingly , and holding my own . Then about midway through the first lap , I hit this compression and it unweighted me , and I slammed into this rock just off the side of the trail . It was a faster point in the course out of the woods . I basically slammed my header pipe so hard that it clamped it shut ; the bike couldn ’ t breathe . It actually bent the muffler so bad that it took out my water pump .
I tried my best to nurse the bike back because it had no power . I was trying so hard to make the bike move that I ended up just getting really fatigued , and arm pump set in . It just wasn ’ t a good deal . We tried changing the pipe to get back out there and noticed all the damage that ended up happening . It ’ s not a real repairable fix . The guys at Sherco did a great job to try and get me back on track , but the damage
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 78